Architect Alfredo Thiermann has recently collaborated with Chilean Filmmaker Marialy Rivas in her latest film “Princesita." The film will be premiered next week at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Alfredo Thiermann’s practice has been long involved in the interaction of architecture with other medias (Artifact Nr. I Dynamics of the Void Noise Tower ) and here is the result of his last collaboration with “Fabula Productions," also known for Pablo Larrain’s academy- nominee ”No” and Sebastian Lelio’s “Gloria."
Architect: Alfredo Thiermann Riesco
Location: Lago Llanquihue, Chile
Client: Fabula Productions
Director: Marialy Rivas
Program: Film Set
Project Year: 2016
Construction Year: 2017
Built Area: 80 m2
From the architects: House I is a hybrid between a permanent illusion and a limited existence; between a monolithic —and at the same time heavy— appearance and a semi-translucent interior.
House I was designed to be seen more than to be used. To be seen and multiple time registered by a film camera with anamorphic lenses. Unlike other houses, in its interior, events were precisely designed with a limited temporal duration.
House I has one single profile made out of one continuous —and over structured— element which defines walls and roof. This single element is repeated more times than what is strictly necessary, making the camera believe that there is more depth than what it exists in reality.
From the exterior, the house is meant to be seen only from afar. It appears in the landscape as an opaque and monolithic object —with uncanny typological similitudes with the construction that normally surround the area. However, the excessive symmetry places the doubt in the aforementioned similarities.
Seen from the interior, the house looks lighter than any other house. The wooden cladding allows natural light to go through, but not a single glance. What happens in the interior has to remain a secret, that was the only requirement of the brief.
After a few days, House I was intentionally burned while it was seen carefully from afar.
From the director:
In a distant land on the southernmost tip of the world lives Tamara, a twelve-year-old girl who has been raised in a cult led by the charismatic Miguel. As she becomes a young woman, she receives instructions for her mission in life: to carry a holy child, fathered by Miguel himself. In this dark fairytale, Tamara will realize that what she wants for her life is not what Miguel has chosen for her, and her disobedience will have consequences she could never have imagined as she desperately tries to gain her freedom.
